The packaging for food and beverages often includes promotional material such as coupons and various types of advertisements. Dry goods such as cereal often include a coupon or some sort of promotional prize within the packaging itself. This type of in-package promotion is also known with beverages, although there are additional concerns with beverages because of possible contamination by the promotion and also with the safe delivery of the promotion to the consumer. As a result, most in-container beverage promotions focus on a "under the cap" approach, such as that described in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,788 to Plester entitled "Closure With Hidden-Gift Compartment."
Known in-container beverage promotions have generally used mechanical delivery systems for holding the promotion, prize, or other article within the container in proper orientation with the container opening. For example, International Application No. PCT/GB94/01310 to Benge, et al. describes a container having a lid made from a metal/polymer laminate. This lid has a fixedly-attached polymer guide tube positioned underneath the pop-top. A prize sachet is positioned within the guide tube. The lid, including the guide tube and the prize sachet, is then inserted into the beverage can and the can is sealed. When the consumer opens the can, the prize sachet is described as floating to the surface in the guide tube on its own or with the aid of a buoyant material such as cork or expanded polystyrene. The prize sachet itself is described as made from a foil material or other material that prevents the ingress of liquid or moisture.
A more complex design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,659 to Howes, et al. Howes describes a sealed prize compartment separated from the lower part of the container. The sealed guide tube is spring activated such that the prize is ejected when the consumer opens the can. U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,631 to Goodman also shows a spring activated guide tube. The guide tube is sealed to the lid of the can by an adhesive. Another delivery device is shown in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,158 to Plester entitled "Promotional Device For Delivering A Prize From A Beverage Can."
Although all of these designs are adequate for the ultimate purpose of delivering a prize or promotion of some sort to the consumer from a beverage can, these designs suffer numerous drawbacks. For example, each of these disclosures involves a complex mechanical delivery system. Several of these references use springs or other types of "launch" systems. Compared to an ordinary beverage container, these mechanical delivery systems are expensive to manufacture and significantly slow down the beverage filling process.
Each of these references also requires the delivery system to be attached to the top lid of the can. The lid and the delivery system are then placed into the lower part of the can and then sealed. This type of container design, however, is not compatible with modern high-speed filling and sealing procedures. Modern manufacturing procedures involve manufacturing the lower part of the container, i.e., the bottom and the sidewalls, and a separate top lid for sealing the open container. In a manufacturing process known as "seaming", the open container is filled with the beverage and then the lid is passed just over the top of the container by a few millimeters and rolled into place. Because each of the disclosures referenced above has a delivery system attached to the top lid of the can, the system will not work with the horizontal sealing procedure, i.e., the lid and the attached delivery system cannot be positioned in the can with a single horizontal motion.
Attempts to accommodate this type of sealing procedure have used glues and mechanical seals to hold an article, such as a drinking straw, at the bottom of the can during the sealing process. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,652 to Murphy et al., discloses a soluble gelatin or binder to hold a straw in place during manufacture. The binder then dissolves into the beverage. Again, although this process may be acceptable for the ultimate goal of delivering an article in a beverage container to a consumer, the use of any type of soluble material is not favored given the possible affect the material may have on the taste of the beverage.
There is a need in the art, therefore, for a device and method for placing a prize sachet or other article into a beverage container. The device and method must be compatible with modern high speed beverage filing equipment and operations. Further, the device and method must not affect the taste or composition of the beverage.